Written by

Antoinette Konz

The Courier-Journal

The JCPS school board statement

Communication is the glue of cooperation. It’s what holds together partnerships between many people with different views and ideas and keeps them working toward common goals. When problems arise, we should talk about solutions and formulate plans to overcome these problems. In the absence of communication, goals are compromised and partnerships can come apart.

Over the last week, Kentucky Commissioner of Education Dr. Terry Holliday has spoken with the media concerning the lack of progress in the Jefferson County Public School (JCPS) District’s lowest-achieving schools. Dr. Holliday accused JCPS of committing “academic genocide” on Louisville students and compared JCPS to “apartheid.” We emphatically reject this characterization of our district and the work of JCPS’s 16,000 employees. We are concerned this reckless language will distract from the real issue of increasing student achievement by starting yet another squabble among adults, about adults.

We share Dr. Holliday’s sense of urgency; however, it would be far more constructive if he communicated directly to the superintendent the specifics of what his staff is seeing in order to help students at these schools. When the commissioner met with The Courier-Journal editorial board this week, he expressed dismay at the board’s failure to ask hard questions regarding this issue during last Monday’s school board meeting. That’s a fair point for someone on the outside to make. Although a presentation on persistently low-achieving (PLA) school performance was on the agenda and the board heard testimony from principals of three of these schools, we were frankly unprepared to respond to Dr. Holliday’s accusations. We pledge that future meetings will better explain to the public what the district is doing to turn around our weakest schools and how effectively our plan is being executed.

We agree with Dr. Holliday that PLA schools must improve at a faster rate for students to leave these schools prepared for the future. We also agree with the commissioner that, since coming to JCPS, Superintendent Donna Hargens and her leadership team have made great strides in working cooperatively with the state in improving performance at these schools. Dr. Holliday is right when he describes this as a community problem that extends beyond the purview of the school. He is also correct when he says the state and JCPS share the responsibility to improve performance at an acceptable and reasonable rate.

We are united in support of Superintendent Hargens’ plan to achieve JCPS’s mission for all students to reach their full potential and graduate prepared. We will continue to operate with a sense of urgency. Some progress has been made, and we are optimistic that this plan will work. We agree with Dr. Hargens that we will do whatever it takes to improve student achievement, including revising plans to fix what’s not working. We won’t give up on our schools.

The huge challenges we face are not insurmountable. However, it will take the wisdom, intellect, engagement, and elbow grease of every stakeholder to turn the tide in these PLA schools. The commissioner and JCPS need to continue to work together and in good faith. Our children and community deserve nothing less.

Sincerely,

The Jefferson County Board of Education:Diane Porter, Chair, District 1Carol Ann Haddad, Vice Chair, District 6David Jones Jr., District 2Debbie Wesslund, District 3Chuck Haddaway, District 4Linda Duncan, District 5Chris Brady, District 7

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Calling his statement “reckless,” Jefferson County’s school board on Friday issued a joint statement rejecting sharp criticism by Kentucky’s education commissioner in which he compared the lack of progress among the district’s low-performing schools to “academic genocide.”

“Dr. (Terry) Holliday accused JCPS of committing ‘academic genocide’ on Louisville students and compared JCPS to ‘apartheid,’ ” the Jefferson County Public Schools board said in its statement. “We emphatically reject this characterization of our district and the work of JCPS’s 16,000 employees. We are concerned this reckless language will distract from the real issue of increasing student achievement by starting yet another squabble among adults, about adults.”

School board chairman Diane Porter said the board decided to send a “united response” after The Courier-Journal submitted questions Thursday to all seven members requesting that each respond to Holliday’s criticism of the district and his warning that the state may take over oversight of some of the district’s 18 low-performing schools.

A recent state analysis found that 16 of those 18 schools were failing to make adequate progress, despite receiving more than $1 million worth of resources to help their turnaround efforts.

Holliday was traveling Friday from Washington and could not be reached for comment.

But he said recently that Louisville should be “outraged” by wide learning gaps between schools such as duPont Manual and Valley High School. And at a Courier-Journal editorial board interview Tuesday, he agreed that Jefferson County had effectively created a system with two different levels of expectations, saying it was tantamount to “apartheid.”

Holliday also said he purposely used the inflammatory phrase “academic genocide” to provoke a community response. And he told the editorial board that some of the county’s persistently low-achieving schools could face a state takeover of their overhaul efforts as early as this fall unless they show improvement soon.

State education officials said that several of Jefferson County’s persistently low-achieving schools have failed to follow the detailed improvement plans they agreed to as a condition of their overhaul — and that district officials failed to exercise the oversight needed to make sure the plans were being followed.

In its statement Friday, the board said it shared Holliday’s “sense of urgency; however, it would be far more constructive if he communicated directly to the superintendent the specifics of what his staff is seeing in order to help students at these schools.”

Superintendent Donna Hargens confirmed Friday that no communication had taken place with Holliday about the district’s persistently low-achieving or “priority” schools.

“The commissioner had not communicated with me specific concerns about the PLA schools and implementation of their improvement plans,” Hargens said through district spokesman Ben Jackey.

In the past three years, 41 public schools in Kentucky have been selected for overhauls because of chronically poor academics — including the 18 in Jefferson County.

The state analyzed academic measures at all 41 schools, including test scores, graduation rates and ACT scores. It found that 23 were failing to make sufficient progress, including 16 in Jefferson County — Shawnee, Valley, Western, Doss, Iroquois, Seneca, Southern and Waggener high schools and Frost, Western, Knight, Olmsted Academy North, Myers, Stuart, Thomas Jefferson and Westport middle schools.

Only two of Jefferson County’s persistently low-achieving schools were on the right track — Fern Creek and Fairdale high schools.

The Jefferson County school board said in its statement that it agrees with Holliday that the district’s “PLA schools must improve at a faster rate for students to leave these schools prepared for the future. We also agree with the commissioner that, since coming to JCPS, Superintendent Donna Hargens and her leadership team have made great strides in working cooperatively with the state in improving performance at these schools.”

“The huge challenges we face are not insurmountable,” the board said. “However, it will take the wisdom, intellect, engagement, and elbow grease of every stakeholder to turn the tide in these PLA schools. The commissioner and JCPS need to continue to work together and in good faith. Our children and community deserve nothing less.”